Modi inaugurates India’s first-ever driverless train operations on Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line

Also inaugurates fully operational National Common Mobility Card service on the Airport Express Line

New Delhi, Dec 28, 2020: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s first-ever driverless train operations on Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line today through a video conference.

Union Minister Hardeep Puri and Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal were present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister termed today’s event as an attempt to make urban development future ready. He said preparing the country for future needs is an important responsibility of governance.

He said that while only 5 cities had metro rail in 2014 today, metro rail is available in 18 cities and by 2025, it will be expanded to more than 25 cities.

“In 2014, only 248 km of metro lines were operational in the country and today it is about three times, more than 700 kilometers. By the year 2025, we are trying to expand it to 1700 km,” he said.

The Prime Minister said with the achievement of Metro Rail without a driver, our country has joined the select countries of the world where such facilities are available. He said a braking system in which 50 percent of the energy goes back into the grid when the brakes are applied are being used. Today 130 MW of solar power is being used in metro rail, which will be increased to 600 MW.

The National Common Mobility Card was expanded to the Airport Express Line of Delhi Metro, which was started in Ahmedabad last year.

Talking about the Common Mobility Card, the Prime Minister said that providing the same standards and facilities for modernization is very important. The Common Mobility Card at the national level is a major step in this direction. This one card will give integrated access to the commuters wherever they travel, whichever public transport they take.

Modi said that the government formulated the metro policy for the first time and implemented it with an all-round strategy.

Modi listed different types of metro rail on which work is being carried out.

On the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) between Delhi and Meerut, the Prime Minister said it will reduce the distance of Delhi and Meerut to less than an hour. He said in cities where passenger numbers are less, work is being done on the MetroLite version.

MetroLite version would be constructed at 40 percent cost of normal metro. He further added that Metro Neo is being worked in cities where the ridership is less. It would be built at the cost of 25 percent of the normal metro.

Similarly, water metro would be an out of the box thinking. For cities where there are large water bodies, the water metro is now being worked on. This will provide last mile connectivity to the people near the islands.